Never a Choice
by HelikaAkileh
Summary: Davesprite and Jade are in a relationship, which gets more complicated with Davesprite's existential crisis, meeting up with Dave and the trolls, the new session, and the possible end of the universe. DavespritexJade, DavexJade. Super angst fluff.
1. Chapter 1

He held her face with his palms, feeling tears gather at the edges where his skin met hers. Skin or whatever he was made up of now. Either way, he could feel them as they fell from her big green eyes.

She looked up at him crying more.

"I like you..." she choked out.

He smiled, closing his eyes behind his shades and sighed an, "I like you too, Jade." His thumb brushed away a collection of new tears from her adorably pink cheeks.

"I don't want to go..." She hiccuped a breath.

"Jade, you know you have to. Fate of the universe and all rests on you guys' shoulders."

"B-but you..." she lifted her head and sobbed unrestrained. "I'm scared of what'll happen to _youuuu_!"

It was dumb and kind of selfish of him, but he thought she had never looked cuter. Her face was puffy and full of tear stains, ears back and eyes watery.

"Don't worry about what'll happen to meeeee," he said a bit mockingly. He placed a hand on top of her head. "I'm surprised I even made it this far." Shoot was he supposed to say that?

She just cried louder, so he guessed it wasn't that great of an idea. "Hey, hey, hey. Hold the phone lines Harley. Just relax." He tried to get her to calm down. "All I'm saying is, we just don't know what's going to happen. We don't know the rules, and hell if we have a clue about what's gonna go down in the Alpha session."

"But you're-"

"From a doomed timeline. I know. Everyone knows. Ha, should've off'd myself before this whole prototyping business. Maybe then this wouldn't be such a shittastic ticking time bomb existence."

"You're not making me feel better!" Jade barked through tears. Literally, it sounded like a puppy yap. He knew she meant it though.

He wrapped his arms around her neck and pulled her close. Her face rested in his feathers, ears twitching within view.

"Sorry Jade. I'm not really down with this whole thing sometimes. Pretty much all the fucking time actually." Her shoulders lifted and sank in a quick sob. "But hey, you gotta get yourself together." He smoothed her hair down and exhaled. "It's not like you'll be fresh out of Dave's."

She pulled back, obviously hurt and angry. "I'll be out of _you_. There's only one of those. One Davesprite. It's not the same. You're the one I've spent almost three years with, and I- I like you!" She repeated more forcefully.

He smiled, honestly happy and honestly sad.

"I like you..." she once again repeated with wide glassy eyes.

Well, third time's the charm. His hands returned to her face, lifting it up and hoping that she could see his eyes through his shades. "I got you the first time, you know. I like you too, Jade."

It only made her cry more. Why shouldn't it? This was one fucked up love story. Romeo and Juliet should get their shit together.

This wasn't the first time either of them had confessed. Maybe the first time verbally and out loud, but they had pretty much established their feelings two years ago. Geez, way to be late to the party. Somehow though, he never felt it necessary. Two years without saying those three honest words, and they got along just fine.

And it was a fucking good two years.

Two years on a ship with his best bro and dog tier Jade were fantastic. He selfishly enjoyed being the only Dave on the ship. Jade didn't blame him.

He enjoyed being the only rapper, only one who could tear up some sicknasty rhymes and mixes for the occasional party, the only one with his own face. He liked being the Dave that made Jade laugh and the one she was crying over now. Call him a selfish asshole but he was quite happy to be himself these past few years without having to compete for his own identity. John sometimes called him Dave, which he appreciated in his own way. Jade insisted on calling him Davesprite. They both had their merits. On one hand, John just saw him as Dave, which was right and self-fulfilling. Calling him Davesprite on the other hand recognized the experiences that _he_ went through, the entity _he_ was and alpha Dave was not. He shrugged. Either way was good. Dave to some, Davesprite to her.

He smiled more in these last few years than he had in his life, thanks to a certain green glowing powerhouse. He wondered if alpha Dave smiled as much as he did. Maybe. Or maybe trolls had driven him insane. From what he gathered, Dave and Terezi were their own dynamic duo. Terezi was just the one who tricked John into a suicide mission, so he was never too alright with her himself. Whatever, he trusted his own judgement usually. If Terezi wasn't a pyscho, then she wasn't and her and alpha Dave could draw all the conksucky jpegs in the world.

Alpha Dave was not an uncommon topic amongst himself and Jade. She didn't really bring him up. It was usually him kicking himself a good reminder that he wasn't the "real" Dave. Jade would always bring him back to her reality though. He was real as she flashed him big buck tooth grins and held his orange hands in hers. It was something for him, that was only happening to him in that moment. He appreciated that.

At the moment she was still crying though, so it was his turn to comfort her. Even as a bird he was still a knight, at the very least _her_ knight.

He brought her head closer and kissed the top of it. One of her ears twitched cutely at the contact.

"I like you too" he murmured against her hair. It felt good to say it again. She wrapped her arms around him.

Okay, okay. More serious talk. Nothing was going to get solved with this mushy back and forth.

"You know, I kinda had a thing for Jadesprite."

She nodded against him.

"And we've pretty much laid down the facts that I have a thing for you." He smiled. "Several things for you. If that's even a way to express that."

More nodding from her end.

"But that's cause I liked you from the beginning. May have taken me a while to realize, but it's been this way for some time. Call it convenient but it's true."

"She liked you, too. A lot. I could feel it."

"Of course she liked me Jade. I've got all the Jade's lined up for a piece of this tail."

She made an indignant noise, nudging him with her head to show her slight annoyance.

"And you've got all the Dave's," he sighed. "There's been a fucking lot of them. Literally a lot. We could open up a dealership. 'Get your Dave here! We've got all the Dave's. Red ones, green ones, God tier, doomed, dying.' Could've made millions in boonbucks I'm sure."

"Well then I can't afford all the Dave's."

"Too bad. This feathery orange ghost one has got your name all over it."

Jade squeezed him in response.

"It's okay, you know, if you like both of us. I can't blame you. All the me's are pretty boss."

"I liked you from the start, too," she mumbled. "I liked you before all this, before there were two of you, or a dozen of you running around. I liked you when we talked on Pesterchum, and when you sent me your awesome mixes. I liked the Dave that had to be my server player, that ran around catching frogs with me, but I don't like you less. By now I've spent more time with you though. I feel so bad..."

Davesprite stroked her hair continuously, almost absentmindedly. "You don't need to."

She started shaking again. "I really mean it. I feel the same way about both of you. I don't want you to be upset. I don't want you to think I like him more."

"I can't think that when I'm in the middle of Waterworks Theme Park, Jade. SeaWorld soak zone has got nothing on you."

She looked up to glare at him.

He sighed. "What I mean is, I know. I understand how you feel. You crying your eyes out over me, _me_, when there's another Dave out there proves it. Not saying I needed you to cry or anything, but you're the tip of the pen and you've made your point. You don't need to feel guilty."

"I just don't want anything to happen to you..."

"It'll be okay. I'll like you no matter what. If something happens to me or if I become some part of Dave like what happened with Jadesprite, I'll always like you, okay? You won't be alone."

She shook her head. "What if it's changed? What if... what if he doesn't like me?" she cried out.

Ah, that's it. Silly girl.

He breathed out a calm breath, resting his forehead on hers. Enotions man, they drained you like faucet.

"He'll like you."

Jade fidgeted and said defensively, "You don't know that! You can't know that... he's been on a rock for three years with Rose and the trolls. He's probably forgotten about me, or he's at least over me if he ever even felt that way." The thought knotted her stomach.

"Jade, you're the one who had millions of rubber bands to remind you what color your shoes were. He's not going to forget you. He hasn't. As for the rest, you just give him that Harley smile and it'll be all over. Shotgun to the heart right there. Way better than a puny Cupid arrow or some shit."

"That's not funny! God, he probably hates me for that!"

"You're impossible to hate. Look at Jack. Let's you wap his head with newspaper. The rest of us get stabbed as a greeting."

She chuckled just a little. Progress. Big leaps and bounds of progress from soak city for the past twenty or so minutes.

"You're too great," Davesprite insisted. Boldly he decided to kiss her forehead. "He'll fall flat on his face for you all over again if he was stupid enough to forget."

"He's too cool for that."

"We're the same guy, mostly at least. I know what he's going to do."

"You fell flat on your face for me, huh?"

"You're right, that is too lame. How's a pirouette off the handle for you?"

"Sounds like Dave."

Their fingers intertwined. Jade had finally calmed down. The tears were nothing more than sticky trails across her cheeks now. Her nose and cheeks were still pink. The most intimate thing she liked to do was nuzzle, probably because she was raised by a dog and was partly one herself. So that's what he did.

He pressed his nose lightly against hers, moved his head and let a comfortable smile fall on his mouth as his face scrunched up. She returned the gesture gladly.

He was so infinitely sure that all the Dave's belonged to her. He did.

All cried out, he could tell Jade was absolutely exhausted.

"Come on, Princess of Space, do your spacey thing."

"Witch of Space."

He smirked. "I know what you are."

In a flash they were in her room. Jade settled down on the floor, holding one of his arms securely in hers as she began to nod off. He wasn't exactly sleepy, but in the calmness he began to reflect on some things.


	2. Chapter 2

At first he was angry, with himself, with alpha Dave, that he had practically no chance in getting on with a life. He was a fucking bird, and as was well established, he didn't think too highly of them. After so long an unexpected existence, probably largely thanks to his Bro, he was finally okay enough to handle this whole situation. He had lived his own life the best he possibly could and it was a great feathery life. He had pretty much fallen off the deep end for this crazy cool girl, and she was totally into him, totally on him right now conked out like a light.

Davesprite thought fondly about his entire time being, well, Davesprite. The initial head rush of mystery and unfathomable knowledge that came when he first prototyped himself, the conversations he had on Pesterchum, seeing alpha Dave run around like the biggest badass. God, he had to admit he was pretty cool. Pretty stupid sometimes, but pretty alright. He remembered kicking imp ass as Dave slept, and the swell of relief that filled his everything when he finally found Bro.

Then the fight with Jack happened. They fought together, side by side. It was something he wasn't used to at all. It was really one of the coolest things he had ever done. It was fucking fantastic not receiving a harsh beat down from his brother, getting to be his literal wingman in combat for once.

When they both realized that this was a losing battle, Davesprite told Bro to abscond the fuck out of there, but his brother refused to move. He held his ground and told him as coolly as any of his anime heros to go fuck himself. When he tried to convince him that he wasn't the real Dave, Bro just repeated himself louder. Bro never saw the difference between the kid he raised and Davesprite, because there was no difference. None whatsoever. He raised him to be a badass, now he had wings, so what? Same Dave. Abscond.

And that was that. He wandered off, taking a moment to bandage himself before finding Jadesprite. Half a wing less and minus a sword through the chest, he was in pretty shitty condition. Being with her was pretty peaceful for a while. She also made him feel like a lot less of a freak, being all furry and green ghosty herself. Then the asteroids came and he had pretty much given up at that point. He thought, 'Well shit, there goes that plan Bro. Way to get killed over nothing.' The thought dissipated as he looked to the girl next to him. It was just Jade, looking at him scared and hopeless even though she had already died once. He knew the fire was too bright for his shades to do much for covering his eyes. He was scared to die. He didn't want to, but he thought that if she was next to him then fine. End it.

Then she was dog tier Jade all of a sudden, stopping asteroids as if it was second nature. Just as quickly as she was gone, she was back and fucking huge. And then they were on a ship with a bunch of salamanders, and he was alive.

He sighed at the thought.

A year into the adventure, Jade and him had already gotten pretty close. He'd make jokes to her over Pesterchum when they weren't actually near each other. When she and John got together it was like a comedy show featuring the derp twins. He cared about them both a lot. Sometimes he'd miss his own sister, but with him being a mental mess as a bird sprite, he could almost appreciate her absence. No psychoanalysis to mess with his brain further. He resigned to the thought that he did miss her a lot, and was really happy she was okay and when they got off this ship and met up he would... greet her? Greet her in a sibling manner. Hug? Something. He hadn't decided what the best course of action would be, but he wasn't going to dwell on that. Greeting Alpha Dave was sure to go smoothly, so no sweat there.

Now that their reunion was coming close, he was getting more and more apprehensive. He didn't really let it show, but Jade had always had transparent emotions. Today she finally poured her heart out to him, and damn if it didn't make him the saddest guy out in paradox space.

Honestly, he was pretty much a bipolar wreck about the whole thing. On one hand, meeting up with everyone would feel like their journey came full circle before they crashed the Alpha Session. It seemed like there were more cons on his end though. First of all, what the shit was going to go down was probably going to end with him dead and covered in his own Sunny Delight colored blood...maybe a severed wing again. He was fucking doomed worse than the minor characters in a horror movie. Second, Dave. Maybe that was first.

He'd gotten very accustomed to being the only Dave again. It was almost like he was normal, albeit in a world full of various species of non-humans. He was Dave Strider, the one and only, or Davesprite the one and only. He didn't hate alpha Dave or anything. It was envy?

His options at the time had been very limited. Die in a pointless timeline where John was dead and Jade was... also probably dead, or save everyone's asses knowing that he'd be offed at some point later. Die later here or die later there. Die a loser, or die helping everyone else win. He didn't have it as easy as Rose or Jadesprite. He wasn't going to morph memories with alpha Dave. As powerful as time was, there were rules and only so many loops to jump through.

He'd even thought about some sort of prototyping with alpha Dave. It couldn't happen, he concluded. First, how the fuck would it? Second, as much as he really didn't think so, sacrificing himself in this instance to save John and Jade seemed like it'd go under "hero's death" in the Sburb book of _1000 Ways to Fuck over Davesprite_.

Then there was Jade. She wasn't a problem in herself, but she had become so immensely important to him that he... really fucking didn't want to go. Stuck on a ship with her forever sounded great. Romantic novel shit. Giving that up... seemed really difficult. Especially after all this time and all they had been through. How much _they_, Dave the sprite and Jade Harley, had been through. It wasn't alpha Dave.

Jade didn't just spend over half an hour crying her eyes out to that Dave, but to _him_. He was the one that made her laugh for the past few years. He was the one who rapped her birthday songs and remixed her bass tunes. He was the one she'd hover over protectively while growling when Jaspersprite stared at him with a catty gleam. He would've laughed if he didn't feel like such a chick, as fucking literally as that could possibly get. He made some comment to point it out, which made Jade blush and laugh later when John had lured Jaspersprite away with a toy mouse.

It was all him. He held her small hands, had her sleep on his shoulders, made stupid bird noises at her just to see her grin. _He_ did.

What was alpha Dave going to do? He could kind of be a dumbass sometimes when it came to emotions and shit like that.

Davesprite sighed. He had become so close to Jade now, that he was worried about how much she'd have to backtrack with alpha Dave. First there was getting over her insecurities, trying to uncover his, lots of talking, and lots of intimate stuff that made him flushed just thinking about. Oh, and Dave himself realizing that he was and had been in love with this girl since before the game even started. Ugh, too complicated. Feelings. How was he supposed to probe _himself_ for feelings? Yo, Dave you dig Harley? You should because she's all into you. Wait no, he can't confess for her.

Fuck this was giving him a headache.

Jade stirred against him but did not wake.

God he fell for her so hard. Focusing on her rhythmic breathing calmed him down.

So, if it was the end for him in a while then he'd just have to deal with it. He was mostly at peace with it. Mostly sometimes. He was the most okay with it when he thought that... really he had to have done it.

He had to save John and Jade, not because they wouldn't win the game otherwise, but because... he would. He needed them to be alive and well. He needed John to be an idiot of a lovable asshole, and prank and continue on loving his shitty movies to infect whatever universe they created. He needed Jade to _breathe_, smile, laugh, _live_ a full life. They needed time, and he gave up his for them. So at the end of the days and days and days that he never expected to have, there was no alternative. He'd jump back to save them as many times time would allow.

One of his wings folded over Jade's sleeping form protectively.

Yeah, it was worth it.

"Jade?" He let his wing brush over her arm a bit to wake her.

She blinked to a groggy awakening, lifting her head from his arm to look up at him.

"Hm?"

In a gesture that was completely unnecessary, he folded both wings to cover them up and enclose them both entirely.

If he didn't have a minute left, a second left, there was still something he wasn't going down without.

He brought his hand to lift her head further. He lowered his face to hers, his hair sweeping over her forehead. When their lips touched he felt her tense, tightening her grip around his forearm. She was obviously caught off guard, but then she was kissing him back and he was melting; everything was, the world they left behind, the life he rewound, the life he wouldn't have. It was just them right now. He told himself then that he would kiss her as many times as paradoxically possible for the rest of his life.

**x-x-x-x-x**

**EDIT: Didn't double check before I posted this chapter, so hopefully most if not all the silly typos are gone. Thank for reading**


	3. Chapter 3

The remainder of the trip was all a fantastic, static blur. John was anxious as ever to meet up with Dave and Rose, and the trolls of course. He would talk and explain in great detail the epic bro-hug that would ensue with Dave- after he greeted Rose.

Seeing her as a grimdark corpse had been his last encounter, and he really just needed the closure and assurance that she was alright. Jade had a similar anxiousness about meeting Dave, though it was coated with a good sense of guilt seeing as he'd been shot with _her_ bullets. The thought that he resented her, that she had caused him pain, made her sick to her stomach. Davesprite constantly reassured her that it was really not a thing to worry about, but the worry would ebb and build like waves. Sometimes she would worry about Dave, sometimes Davesprite. She wouldn't always say it, but he could tell easily from the way that she would look at him with glassy glasses-clad eyes, hold his hand tighter, wrap her arms around him wordlessly.

Other times were bubbly. Literally, fucking salamander slob bubbles everywhere. They all particularly liked John for some reason or another, which was fine. He liked the occasional praise, but entertaining a bunch of reptiles was really not on his bucket list. As much as possible, he just wanted to spend time with John and Jade. As much as he thought John's stupid Ghostbusters were the shittiest thing to ever unironically exist (in a close tie with the gross Nic Cage cinema he adored), making his best friend happy was usually worth it. He usually had Jade right next to him as he played anyways, so that always made it exponentially more tolerable.

When they weren't playing computer games, sometimes the three of them would get back into their music. John would play it up on piano or keyboard, Jade usually on bass rather than flute, and Davesprite would mix up whatever he felt like; plenty of collaborations and remixes ensued. He showed Jade the photography he had done over the years. She seemed to like practically everything, but John just ribbed him and accused him of being a hipster. In the end he showed Jade a few tricks, how to work the lens and such, and she took a liking to it. Her shots weren't so much profound as they were honest. He was sure they'd make a nice scrapbook or something when it was all over. That thought is what kept him from absconding the fuck away whenever the camera pointed his way. She'd probably accumulated over several hundred shots of him, and as selfish as it may have been he was glad that... there'd be some proof that he had existed. After he was gone, she'd have something to look back on and make her smile. It was the least he could do to unironically smile on rare occasions. The rest of the shots were either whimsically candid or poker faced mug shots.

Sometimes he'd take a few shots of her. Wouldn't be a complete story without one of the main characters, would it? He actually wanted evidence of just how much she'd changed. He wished he had more pictures of her at the beginning of the journey, but he figured maybe he could get a few screenshots from his computer. Eh, didn't need them much.

She never much liked to carry the camera around with her so she'd appear and disappear the thing whenever she felt like it. At the end of the day, she'd flip through the images, pointing at any particularly funny pictures. Sometimes she'd fall asleep right there against him, camera going slack in her hands and head falling on his shoulder. If he was tired himself he would rest his head on her and get a little shut eye. More commonly, he would just sit there listening to her breathe until she stirred awake. He never left without telling her.

John had pretty much gotten used to them being so close. Both Jade and he had done their respective share of confiding in him. He picked on them both now and then like a true trickster, but overall was very supportive. On the occasional bicker, he'd be the one to end it with brotalks or some lighthearted, well intentioned prank to bring them back together. He was also _mostly_ good at giving them their own space when they needed it. Of course, there were so inopportune moments of barging in, but nothing that didn't send Jade into a fit of giggles in the end.

Jade's room was probably his favorite place to be. Unlike her actual room on her island, the room on the ship was much smaller and less colorful. A few posters and plush squiddles were scattered about, but otherwise the room was somewhat bare aside from a bed and nightstand. Oh, also a buttload of computers, all of which she deemed necessary. He didn't really mind, save for the times when some salamander managed to hack John's account- probably the doofus had forgotten to log out of pesterchum- and the room would explode with sound bursts of a new message received.

As un-ironic as it was, Davesprite really liked spending moments alone with Jade to do all those stupid romantic things that John could ramble about in his movies. John responded back that that was more of Karkat's jurisdiction, but honestly Karkat was one of the last people that he wanted to think about when he and Jade were spending time together.

...

"Caw."

"Woof!"

"Caw."

"Woof! Aw, c'mon. You know what I want to hear!" Jade said with a wide grin.

"Caw caw." She really ought to be happy that he was indulging her this much.

"Nope!" She giggled.

"Jesus Jade, give a guy a break."

"Not until you do it!" She grabbed his hands in her own. "C'mon cool guy. You've done it before, I don't know what the big deal is!"

"I can't be your farm animal toy Jade. The dog goes: 'woof,' the cat goes: 'meow,' the bird says '_caw._' "

She frowned up at him, hands gripping his tighter. He rolled his eyes behind his shades and sighed, leaning his head to rest on hers.

"You're really gonna do this to me, huh?"

She nodded, their foreheads rubbing as she did.

"...peep."

She _squealed_. God, he knew she was all into furries way back when, but she must be in fucking heaven. Well no, the road to furry-dom was paved with a lot of shitty things so maybe not, but getting so giddy over animal noises was something he would have to get used to. At least though, it was a quirk that made her like him more. That being the case, he supposed it wasn't that bad. Weird, but... relieving that she approved of the feathers and all that so readily.

He pressed his nose against hers, in what was one of the easiest ways to show her affection. He nudged it a little, feeling warmth begin to radiate across his face.

"Peep." _Shit. _That one slipped. Oh well.

She smiled now, and he made sure to tighten his lips so no more noises would involuntarily escape. She nuzzled him and he followed by pecking her on the lips. Much more effective way to distract his mouth from those infernal noises.

...

That was one of his favorite memories. Moments like that, only a collection of them in his brain, were his absolute favorite. He held on to them as desperately as he wanted to hold her now.

The ship had landed.

Or well, made its _first _landing, he supposed. They had met with the asteroid in what was the final stretch of their journey to the new session, so he wasn't quite screwed yet. But fuck that, this was a whole other line of shit. Time for his (ghostly lack of) ass to fall back into place. Dave Strider, the alpha Dave Strider, official Knight of fucking Time, was here.

x.x.x

Thanks for the comments guys D,: it really means so much! I was worried that it wasn't really good... anyways, I'll try to get chapters out more quickly. It's kind of a when-the-feels-hit sort of thing that I'm winging though. Anyways, thanks for reading! Mwahs!


	4. Chapter 4

He would never forget the moment that their worlds came colliding together. Ship and asteroid that was. Whatever.

They had been in Jade's room, happily going over her arsenal of candid photos of the day when the sound of a pesterchum message suddenly became a bouncing symphony from her multiple computers.

Davesprite frowned. "I swear, if it's some more naknak's from John, I'm going to change his password to something like, 'imahomoforniccage.' Scratch that. It probably already is his password."

Jade giggled and reached for her lunchtop. "We'll see."

The screen projected in front of them.

**- carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling gardenGnostic [GG] - **

**CG: FUCK. JADE? **

"Well shit."

"That's definitely not a nakkadile..."

**GG: karkat? :o **

**CG: HOPY SHIT. **

**CG: HARLEY IS THIS ACTUALLY YOU? OR IS SOMEONE TRYING TO MESS WITH MY THINK PAN? I COULD BE SEEING THINGS AND FUCKING WITH MYSELF AS USUAL.**

**GG: no it is actually me! **

**GG: but now that you mention it... **

**GG: are you really karkat or is this john? this would be a really mean prank! **

**CG: FUCK THAT, AND FUCK YOU FOR THE ACCUSATION. **

**GG: you're definitely karkat... **

For a couple of minutes there was no reply. Then the gray text returned, angry as ever.

**CG: NO SHIT. **

**CG: FUCK. WE MUST BE GETTING CLOSE IF WE CAN ACTUALLY COMMUNICATE. **

**GG: i guess so! **

**CG: CONNECTION IS REALLY SHITTY THOUGH. **

**GG: yeah :/ **

Davesprite tried not to twitch every time the message tone rung in the small room. He pat Jade's head and went over to her other computers to either turn them off or lower the volume all the way so that he could get some peace. When he was done he returned to her side and she smiled at him.

**CG: OKAY, SO YOU'RE ALL ALIVE AND HAVEN'T MANAGED TO FUCK UP ANYTHING FOR THE PAST FEW YEARS, RIGHT? **

**CG: I CAN GO TELL EVERYONE THAT JOHN'S ANIMAL CARNIVAL IS ARRIVING SOON? **

**GG: yes! i think that is a good idea! **

**GG: say hi to everyone for me! **

**GG: also davesprite and john! john will love to be able to talk to you all. he is going to be so jealous that i got first conversation! **

**CG: YEAH YEAH. I'LL GET ON THAT NOW. SAY HI TO HIM FOR ME THOUGH, IN CASE THE SHITTY CONNECTION DECIDES THAT IT'S FULL ON GOING DOWN THE FUCKING DRAIN. **

**GG: okay :) **

"Wow! That was sure unexpected and awesome," said Jade turning to Davesprite.

He gave her a weak smile. "Yeah, after my ears stopped being blown to bits, it was a fucking delight."

Jade giggled and pecked his cheek. "It takes a while to warm up to him."

His feathers ruffled as his chest puffed out slightly. He immediately tried to regain control over his stupid body. "Right." Not that he'd have a lot of time to get used to him. He bit his tongue back from saying that though. This was the first time that Jade had been beaming with excitement and energy in a while, and he was never one to ruin her brighter moments.

"Let's go tell John, okay?"

Davesprite nodded. "Yeah."

They got up and out of Jade's room. Once they were in the hallway Jade's excitement grew exponentially. A wide grin stretched across her cheeks and she broke out into a sprint to find her ecto-brother. "We're getting close!" she exclaimed.

He floated slowly after her, not in the mood to catch up. She was getting quite far.

Then she suddenly stopped and turned to face him. He winced at the look on her face as she turned all the way around. The glowing, gleeful expression on her face was gone. Her mouth dropped, face drained and green eyes open wide in horror.

"We're... getting close..." she repeated slowly. Close to the reunion, close to the new session... close to Davesprite's scramble to survive, and what had she done? Scream excitedly and run off already, as if ready to leave him.

She ran back to him, and launched herself into his arms. She felt horrible guilt and a chocking fear as apologies spilled from her mouth in a stream. "Dave, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Davesprite. I'm so sorry. Oh god, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..."

He held on to Jade steadily, trying to comfort her with his arms where his mouth and brain were failing drastically, needing her comfort to quell his panic.

"Dave, I'm so sorry! It's going to be alright, I promise," she said earnestly, holding him fiercely. Then she suddenly loosened her hold and backed up enough to look at him. Worry was plastered on her face. "God, you're shaking!"

Oh, well look at that. He was shaking. He wanted very badly to say something sarcastic or ironic. His tongue was caught in his mouth.

From the hallway they both heard another pesterchum message being received from Jade's room. Thoughts of Karkat- the second troll to hit on her- flashed through his mind and spiked his jealousy. Then it was Dave. Dave in his stupid red pajamas and red text, messaging her and trying to reach her. _His_ Jade.

_Fuck that._

He grabbed the girl forcefully and smashed his lips against hers. After a muffled noise of surprise, she retightened her grip on him and pulled him closer by his shirt. They were both shaking, crying.

...

Ten hours later the ship met the asteroid. He stayed by Jade's side as she slowed the ship and helped her with the landing. John was in charge of making sure none of the salamanders or nakkadiles freaked out too much.

He could see the small orange and red figures that awaited them on the ground. His mouth was in a straight line and remained that way even after they had fully landed. John emerged from the inside of the ship and gave them both a nod. He wasn't really planning on leaving, but Jade grabbed his hand, a gesture that filled him with one part relief and one part anxiety. He was coming to meet them too. He was getting off the ship. The ship that for three years gave him some peace of mind that he could avoid dying for a while longer. Getting off the ship, setting foot or... tail, he guessed, off of it would begin the loud countdown to death.

But Jade would not let him go. He wanted to say that if she wanted to stay with him, then she should just stay on the goddamn golden ship where it was safe, but who was he kidding? There was no safe spot in Sburb for him.

"I'm going to go ahead, you guys." John said and jumped down, using his wind powers to land on his feet.

"Stay with me." Jade said tightly. Her head turned down to look at her two friends.

His eyes followed hers from behind his shades. "He doesn't hate you."

She squeezed his hand.

He squeezed back thinking that was the end of it, but then she turned to face him.

"I love you."

It felt like the last moment he would ever hold her. In a gesture to comfort them both, he dipped his head down until their foreheads touched and pressed his nose against hers. Their eyes shut tight, and in a flash of green light they were on the ground.

**-x.x.x.x.-**

**Thank you very much for the reviews! They really push me to update when I don't feel like I should continue. Sorry for sadstuck feels guys! Love you all! -mwahs- **

**A/N: Tried to make the chapter a bit more coherent thanks to Homestucker's review! Thank you so much for the support and love!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Ch. 5**

They stood there hand-in-hand, foreheads pressed together. Once Jade felt solid ground beneath her feet and the odd feeling of teleportation had faded, they both opened their eyes and moved apart slightly. Jade kept one hand laced and locked with Davesprite's own hand. They let out deep breaths.

In front of them, John flew around Rose in circles. They could hear him as he spoke excitedly.

"You guys look great! Your clothes are _so_ bright though Rose! How does it feel not to wear dark stuff like your black or purple?"

Rose smiles as she says, "Oh it burned my eyes at first but I managed."

"Apparently on Alternia bright is the new dark or some shit. Just ask Rose's vampire girlfriend. Girl glows brighter than Las Vegas."

John put his hands to his mouth. "You've got a girlfriend?"

Rose rolls her eyes. "No, just the homoerotic fantasy of an incestuous prick."

"Oh, gog Rose why would you say that?" came Dave's horrified reply.

Davesprite and Jade approached in time for her to chime in, "You guys still fight an awful lot."

"Jade, good of you to join us. Also hello to you Davesprite."

He gave her a nod. "Nice to see you too Rose. Looks like we match."

"Pretty sure you and Dave look a little more identical," John points out.

Davesprite and Dave proceeded to give each other a good look.

"Nah, I don't see it," came the Dave in red.

"Yeah John, what are you even talking about?" asked the other. Both of them had straight faces. Jade giggled.

"Oh come _on_ you guys. Not cool to gang up on me!"

Dave turned his head over to the girl attached to his orange hued twin, pausing only for a millisecond at their hands. "Hey Jade."

"Hi Dave," she said quietly.

"God Tier looks really... _furry_ on you. Where's my set of ears? You got a matching tail or what?"

More light laughs left her mouth. "No I don't have a tail, but the ears are real!"

John flew over to her and scratched behind one. "Yup! They twitch and everything! Wait 'til I tell you all the crazy dog things she does now!"

Dave's eyebrows raised. "Congratulations Jade. You've reached your lifelong dream of becoming a real life furry."

"Thank you Dave." She paused and her expression changed. "How are you doing?"

"Fine. Can't complain. Rose and the trolls haven't managed to unbolt my sanity for the past three years."

She shifted, adding the slightest bit of pressure on Davesprite's hand. He knew what she actually wanted to know from the other Dave.

"Can't blame a girl for wonderin'. During her last impression you weren't looking so cool, man." Not the most subtle, but a lot better than 'You're even redder than the last time she saw you.'

"Are you kidding? I looked cooler than the Artic, tell him Jade. I could've been in a movie or something. Oscar for hottest way to be off'd goes to the one and only Dave Strider for being the biggest badass ever to get shot. I'd like to thank the academy. Also a big thanks to one Jade Harley for being the biggest badass to ever fire a gun."

She gave him a smile.

"Couldn't have done it without you."

Her grip slackened, and Davesprite couldn't tell what he should feel. He was glad to know that Jade was feeling better, but the numbness felt more consuming with every glance and exchange of words between them. Like his soul was being transfered, like he was fading. He wanted so to hold her hand tighter, but she had been so anxious about this whole ordeal that he couldn't. He couldn't ruin the moment, couldn't bring back the feelings of horror that haunted her by showing his insecurity. He couldn't let on that there was some maybe not so obvious animosity going on between Alpha Dave and himself. He kept his grip steady.

"Anyways, I'm all patched up now. I'd uh, show you but I don't think your virgin eyes could handle all the Strider under these layers."

Davesprite bit his tongue. She'd seen plenty of Strider for the past few years. Admittedly, there was nothing more than him lifting his shirt to show how his sword wound had healed, but fuck. He did it first.

The girl beside him giggled and gave him a glance, immediately calming his jealous nerves.

"I don't know about that Dave." There was a brightness in her eyes, directed at _him_, not Alpha Dave, that was extra warming.

"Yo morons!" Ugh, kill joy. That should have been his name. It was perfect. It could even be a troll name. Kiljoy. Six letters. Fucking perfect.

"Karkat!" John exclaimed. "Your voice is so much different than I imagined! You scream just like I thought you would though!"

In response he put his hand to his forehead, anticipating the headache that would surely come now that the asteroid had gained more passengers.

"Yeah, you're every bit as fucking _annoying_ as I thought and you've literally been here for _ten fucking minutes. _Thanks for ruining my life even more than I thought possible! Feel free to stay in your macigc fucking ship for the rest of the ride to Fucksville. Enjoy the grand view!"

John and Jade had big grins on their faces.

"Nice to finally meet you too Karkat!" John yelled.

Rose shook her head and rolled her eyes. Boys.

"If you're that excited to meet him, wait until you see everyone else. They're a lot more tolerable if you ask me."

The group began their walk to the base.

Dave turned to John. "Man, you've got to meet my new best friend."

Ugh Terezi, Davesprite thought tiredly. John had met her. John had spoken to her. It ended so fucking well, he wanted to say. So fucking well that I'm now a creamsicle colored, feather molting monstrosity.

"We call him The Mayor. He doesn't talk much but he's fucking amazing John."

Oh, not Terezi. Davesprite inwardly sighed. She'd come up eventually though.

"Dude! Can't wait! I don't think I made a best friend on the ship. Got to bond with my sort of sister, so that's cool." He flashed her a grin. "Jade made a best friend though," he teased.

Dave gave the couple a glance.

Jade spoke up. "John's very popular with all the consorts actually! So he made a lot of friends! Like Casey!"

John made a noise of protest. "Yeah, but you can't expect me to pick one of them! There's a whole handful of cool turtles, and salamanders, and some pretty awesome nakkadiles Jade! And Casey is my daughter!" he said dramatically, as if seriously offended. He really was though.

"You have a daughter." Dave repeated flatly. "You have a daughter who is also a salamander."

"Yes, and she is perfect." John huffed.

Jade was smiling, and even Davesprite felt lighter thinking about her.

"I'm her aunt! We babysit sometimes."

Davesprite scoffed. "John gets paranoid when she's on the top deck. Like she'll fall over the edge or something."

John made an indignant face. "No responsible parent would let their only child run about on a ship without being supervised!"

Rose spoke up. "But he does abandon said child in his friend's room to go out adventuring."

"You're responsible Rose! I knew she'd be safe with you!"

After a few back and forths between the group, mostly to John, they arrive in the darkly lit base where they would be staying for the rest of the trip.

"Oh wow, it's really dark here. It's going to be so different from the ship! It was always pretty bright being gold and all."

Dave spoke up, "Good thing you have your own bird/me shaped glowstick to brighten the place up, Jade." Davesprite could pick up the barest hint that Dave was unamused as the words passed his lips. He sighed, torn between whether to patch things up or be smug that Jade hadn't let go of his hand for a second since their arrival. Honestly, he was pretty emotionally drained and was left in some muddy feeling in between the two, unwilling to tip the scales in one direction.

He let himself be happy when Jade slipped him another easy smile. He gave a natural, closed mouthed smile back at her.

Rose led them into what looked like a study area.

Davesprite was already feeling lost and out of place. Ugh, everyone here was so... not a sprite, he guessed. Everyone here was either human or troll. Even with a few anomalies, he was still the fucking pink elephant/orange bird in the room. And he was still just the other fucking Dave.

**-x.x.x.x.-**

**I'm writing a lot faster than I thought I would, and slower than I'd like to. Really hope you enjoy this chapter, angsty as it may have been... Thank you for all the reviews, favs, alerts, whathaveyou. By the way I'm also on tumblr at justafewsmallsteps, so catch me there if you have one! mwahs dears!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Ch. 6 **

During the good douse of information from Rose and Kanaya (mostly Rose though), Karkat walked into the room. He was only a mild interruption as Rose's spiel went on and on. Davesprite had half a mind to listen to the things that only a Seer would really comprehend, but for the most part he knew a lot already. Sprite knowledge and all. Everything about the other session was vague to him though, because well, he was prototyped for their own game. Another game with their own set of players wasn't in his immediate realm of knowledge.

John asked questions every now and then while Jade seemed to be able to wrap her head around almost everything Rose said, though not without making it clear that she was pretty amazed. He found it funny actually, that a girl who controlled planets and all of space, who lived on Prospit longer than any of them could take their first few steps, could be so taken aback by all that was about to happen.

For his own part, Davesprite felt like he'd like to explore. It'd be fucking dandy to know where he was and getting a tour wasn't really the Strider style. He much rather put his ass out there and find his way on his own. It was just how he was taught, he guessed. Bro's teaching method was basically throwing him into crazy ass situations and having him manage from there. There were too many things he didn't know, and too many persons he just didn't want to encounter. So he sucked up his desire to wander as to postpone said encounters as long as possible. He pretty much had it up to his neck when Rose went into the _other_ trolls they had met in their dream bubbles. Counterpart ancestor trolls. A whole other dozen. Fucking hell.

"Yeah, they're all fucking crazy assholes. Worse than us, believe me. Count your blessings that you weren't subjected to meeting them and be fucking grateful," Karkat angrily interjected.

He was. He shot a glance at Jade who looked back up at him. She could read his mind, how exasperated he was at the thought of twelve more trolls. She quietly giggled and pat the back of his hand.

With that, the fucking long "briefing" was over. Honestly a briefing should only get that title when it is brief. Rose could probably talk someone's ear off.

He could probably rap someone's ears off and send them rocketing to the moon, but hey, that's a skill.

Rose then stood up and smiled, her voice still smooth after what must've run about two hours of talking.

"I'll show you around and then you get head off to your rooms."

John and Jade rose slowly, stretching their backs and limbs.

"Oh man, I haven't been that still since our game night marathon!" John said with a smile.

They followed Rose and saw the large computer room, all of which looked really odd. Still, a computer was a computer.

"I managed to add a few that will work for us, since the majority of us don't understand the Alternian language."

"The majority of us?" asked Jade inquisitively.

"Yeah, Lalonde's picked up on a shit ton. Happens when you snatch up every goddamn piece of Alternian literature you get your grubby human hands on."

Rose gave a sly look. "That's certainly a possibility."

After the computer lab, the group headed out.

"Dave likes to occupy himself here when he and Karkat aren't bickering like an abusive couple."

"Watch it Lalonde."

"Karkat you're in hate-love with Dave?" asked John.

Jade shook her head. "He's in hate-love with himself. We've discussed this."

"Is that even a thing?"

The troll put a hand to his head, obviously frustrated and stressed. "No. This is not a thing we're going to talk about. John, I am not explaining the intricacies of quadrants with you. This is not black-rom. It does not have the remotest semblance to black-rom. This is platonic I-want-to-rip-you-to-pieces hate. Strider can shove it up the ass and back around."

"That sounded kind of..."

Rose interrupted, "Oh I know John. It would imply homoerotic sexual relations if that was even the way that trolls conductuc-" with that Karkat slapped his hand over her mouth.

"Okay that's enough spewing of things that are _not_ any of your or their business." He turned. "Dave's here. Terezi's here. They'll be your welcoming committee to their shitty chalk asylum. I'm taking _her_ back down so they'll be no more of _that_ sort of thing coming up again."

He dragged Rose a little way then let her go.

"What makes you think I'll go down with you?" she asked coyly.

"Dammit Lalonde. Fine. I'll lend you another novel." They heard Karkat say before they were out of earshot. Rose's volume level was much lower anyways.

"About time you guys got your shit together," came Dave's voice from behind them. They all turned. "There's someone that you have to meet, like, it's dire."

From behind his caped back was a short creature.

"This is the mayor."

Instantly John recognized him.

"Hey! You're the little guy who likes to wear my pajamas!"

He shook nervously, his hands coming together to fidget. He looked up at Dave and then back around.

"Yeah so basically, this is my bff."

"Geez, what am I then?" came a scratchy, female voice.

Dave turned his head slightly towards the source. A girl troll stood behind him, short hair and pointed horns. Red glasses gleamed and she frowned.

"Right, you too. This is Terezi. Gff, I guess?"

Immediately Jade gripped his hand. He didn't know for whose benefit.

There she was, a simple figure clocked in a red dragon cape. For a few seconds she was a vortex though, just this dismal vortex that became the drain of his existence. The one that fucked him over. He would've sighed as the image disappeared but somehow being around stoic Alpha Dave made him less willing to show any emotion.

"Also this is Can Town." Dave motioned to the large expanse of chalk covered ground. "It's pretty much the coolest place on this ship."

Terezi grinned. "Only the coolest kids are allowed to stay here!"

"I don't know if we're cool enough to stay!" Jade peeped up with a smile.

"S'ok Jade. Like I said, you're definitely a badass. John though..."

"Hey! That's pretty shitty to say Dave. First you got a new set of best pals and now I'm not good enough for your lame ass chalk town."

"Can Town," Dave corrected. "And cool it. You're welcome. The actual rules are basically that Vantas's company is strictly prohibited."

"Maybe they do hate-love each other," John whispered to Jade.

Terezi laughed. "I heard that."

"Oh yeah, TZ's like a fucking dog. She can't see but she has like, super hearing and smell. Also she licks stuff."

"Funny. Jade's kind of actually a dog." Davesprite interjected.

John sighed. "You have weird taste in women. Both of you."

"I don't lick stuff."

"No but you chase cats and growl," Davesprite pointed out. "And bark."

"You make bird noises! You know it's not my fault. It's just a thing that happens... I can't control it."

"TMI guys. I don't need to know what happens in the bedroom," Dave said.

That really did tend to happen in Jade's bedroom, Davesprite thought half amused.

"Speaking of bedrooms, Rose said she'd show us to ours but then Karkat snatched her up for talking about troll romance," said John.

Terezi let out a snicker.

"Ugh, fuck that noise. I can show you where to stay. It's late anyways, at least by like, regular standards. I'm basically a human clock at this point. Might as well be a GPS navigator too."

"Hey, I think that's me, actually," Jade voiced.

"Right. Well I'll just be a tour guide. Now if you walk this way you'll see a black expanse of nothingness. If you look to your right or any other direction you'll see the same fucking thing." Terezi made a noise and he added, "Or smell. You'll smell a black expanse of nothingness."

John and Jade let out some melodramatic "Oooh's."

When Dave got to the part of the ship that housed most of the rooms he made a shrug saying, "And that, ladies and gentlemen, concludes the most amazing tour experience of your life. Please make your way out of the bus in a single file line, no pictures please and don't forget your bags or I'mma jack yo shit." After a pause he continued in a more serious manner. "Right so... I don't know about room assignments. There's a room on either side that's available. There's a third one down somewhere else if you need me to take you there."

"What for?" Terezi asked, her mouth curling at one end.

"Uh, I'm not sure how sleeping arrangements really work in this situation."

"We got it," Davesprite said.

John snickered. "Yeah they'll be fine." He shot Jade and Davesprite a glance.

Jade and Terezi laughed quietly to themselves. Terezi at least tried to dial down her volume, though her version of quiet was most people's default at best.

"Okay. Guess that's chill. Rose and my rooms are just over there, so holla if you need us. To be honest she's probably not gonna get back anytime soon, stays up pretty late reading most nights. I'll be back in Can Town. So, later dudes."

With that the red caped Dave and Terezi walked off. John went into his room. Of course Jade offered to fetch his things for him, but he said he would do it himself later.

Then they were left together. Soon they walked/floated into Jade's new room, or their new room, and closed the door.

Jade gave his hand a final squeeze before they finally detached from one another.

"That wasn't that bad, was it?" Jade asked, stretching her arms and back. She looked tired. He was tired.

"No, I guess not. You oughta get some rest dog girl. It's been a long fucking day."

She smiled at him and nodded, suddenly looking even more exhausted with her heavy eyelids and slightly drooped ears. She grabbed his arm and they sat against the wall as they usually did. Jade did her space thing to snatch a blanket and pillow for her to sit on and eventually sleep on.

"I like having you as my night light, by the way."

"I glow, you glow, what can I say?"

"We're just very good together, aren't we?"

He smiled at her then, realizing that he hadn't done so for a while. At least not without feeling strained.

After folding their arms together and finding a comfortable spot on his shoulder to rest on, Jade soon became quiet. Truth be told, he was pretty good about knowing whether or not she had fallen asleep. He didn't know this time though. Still, the time felt right now.

"I love you too, by the way."

**-x.x.x.x.-**

**Hello everyone! I am really really sorry about how long this update has taken. I finished off the summer really busy and immediately jumped into school. Then **_**that**_** update happened, OH MY GOD MY SHIP. OUR SHIP. Davesprite Jade I thought you were this cute little ship that barely began to float but you were canon-ed and canon'ed DOWN. -sobs forever- I so wanted to update this story for everyone hurting over this ship so I apologize for taking so long! Thank you for reading as always.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Ch. 7**

In the quiet of the night, a single ghost-like figure slipped from under a certain dog-girl's arms, silently vanishing. He wandered through the dark corridors, mostly unafraid of any danger, and very worn out. Yet his mental capacities turned like the gears he once stood on and mastered. His mind no longer worked like clockwork. It was a jumbled maze only he could navigate, but that fact never made it less of a fucking trip. It was a maze filled with the sounds of ticking, surrounded by a suffocating knowledge of Sburb, a shit ton of angst coating every inch, and plastered with a bunch of bird instincts. Yeah, his nest was composed of some grade A garbage. Oh let's not forget the fucking identity crisis, that's just too fun to leave out especially now that it's been exacerbated about 9 million times thanks to him being on a meteor with none other than his alternate timeline self.

Eventually a certain glowstick of a human-bird-boy managed to meander past the eery dark walls, and find his way outside back near the prolific Can Town. The first thing his glowing orbs found was a red caped figure, complete with the back of a head that looked just like his would have. Was he up for this?

"Yo, me that isn't me." Apparently he was going to do this anyways.

Dave Strider turned around to face his sprite. His eyebrow was slightly raised in a fashion Davesprite easily read as showing some curiosity. It was the same expression he would have made, had curiosity been an emotion he felt more often. Vast sprite knowledge took a lot of the questioning out of the way.

"Hey where's the matching neon missis?"

"Out like a light. Like all the lights. The fuse box has gone off and the whole city is in a blackout," he responded.

"And you're out here because?"

"Probably the same reason you are." Figures they'd be doing the same thing seeing as how they were almost, but not really, literally the same person. Escaping from reality and wistful staring into the distance while everyone was sleeping was a major Strider mark.

Dave nodded. Once upon a time their back and forth could have gone on for another solid half hour, but it seemed that three years had quieted them both down at least this much. Before long he spoke up though.

"Does this even count as thinking by myself? I mean, you're here, so does that counteract the whole concept of self-meditation or not?"

Dave the sprite may have had a million things to say about that, but he wasn't about to put the energy into pretending like his joke about identity wasn't a mockery to his existence and three years of way too much existentialism for one being to have to deal with. He shrugged his shoulders instead and swerved the conversation from the pointless road to nowhere and off a cliff into some deep shit. "So how are we gonna deal with this hot mess?"

"Which mess? There's the end of the world, the new session, the-"

"The Jade thing."

"That is some hot mess, alright. Shit's basically molten."

"Give it up with the lava. She's always going to like snow more. I mean, for fuck's sake she grew up next to a volcano that threatened to explode and leave her dead on an island by herself. She thinks lava is stupid and lame. I know. I've tried to get her to see that lohac was basically the primest of real estate, but no." He paused and remembered hours of conversations with Jade. "To be fair, lofaf was never that great for her after it became your grave. She hardly visited her house."

The two of them were quiet for another few moments. The meteor was quiet. The void _felt_ like a void, a vacuum of nothingness where facing himself was inevitable.

"So what do we do about her?" Davesprite asked eventually.

"What's there to do? She's your girlfriend. There's no 'we' in this scenario."

"I guess that depends. Do you still-"

"It really doesn't matter if I still."

"Oh fuck off, you know it does. It does matter for you, it matters for me, and in case you're just plain fucking stupid I'll tell you that it matters to her."

"Fine. Sure. Maybe? Maybe I still have a thing for her, but there's a couple of problems there bird-me. Today's the first day I've seen her since, you know, those stunning, and I mean literally stunning, moments of watching her unload bullets into my chest. How charming of a last impression is that? I'm there blood and guts spilling out, and she's gotta get her mack on to save my life. Even if I wanted to get my game on to redeem the fuck out of myself and sweep Harley off her yellow brink bound feet, she's obviously got the hots for you, crow man."

"I'm going to die. Everyone knows that. I am going to die at some point during this new session. So you better fucking man up and get your shit together now my time as her local convenient Dave has come to an end. Yeah, she likes me. She likes you, too. We've established that. It's fact. Stamped. Case closed."

"But she's _your_ girlfriend. She hasn't been dating me for however long, it's been you. Aside from that fun fact, it's kind of end of the world crunch time here. All hands on the clock are pointing at me, and probably nothing good is going to come out of that. _I'm_ probably not gonna come out of that. You know how this game basically thrives off of dead Daves. So there. We're both S.O.L. in this."

"It's me you dumbass."

Dave's questioning look spurred him to continue.

"It's not you. Those signs are for me. What? How do I know? I'm a fucking bird sprite. I know. If I were you, yeah I'd think that all the signs were pointing to me too, but oh what? I fucking am you. I-" he came to a realization then and the words spilled past his mouth suddenly in a rush. "I'm the real Dave Strider." His back straightened as the thoughts formed more solidly. He wasn't Dave the sprite. He was Dave Strider, turned into a sprite. Plus a crow. But still Dave Strider. "You belong to the Alpha timeline, okay? You are the product of all the rewinds of doomed timelines where shit is destined to go insanely wrong. You're here because all the dead versions of yourself showed you what not to do. That's me. I'm one of those. And I am going to die so that you don't have to. So that you get to keep going."

He had thought he did a good job of keeping his cool, despite the emotional revelations. He thought he had delivered that sprite knowledge in the coolest and most badassly mature way, that alpha Dave's shocked expression was the result of him handing out some choice proverbial wisdom in the smoothest of manners. He didn't know that at some point he had actually started yelling, shaking, crying, until in a flash of green light he and Jade were crumpled on the floor sobbing in each other's arms.

**-x.x.x.x.-**

**Sorry for the lack of updates. A lot of it has to do with school, and another part is the crazy amounts of Homestuck updates that have thrown everyone into a loop! I try my best to keep canon-based stories in line with what's happening, but unless Homestuck ends that's pretty much impossible? So I'm sorry for all the deviations from the actual canon, but that's why it's a fanfic I suppose! Thank you for reading and I hope you liked it... Please review if you feel so inclined! They really are an inspiration and motivator. Thanks! **


	8. Chapter 8

**Ch. 8 **

_ Your name is Dave Strider because, well, what else would it be? Your name has always been Dave Strider and there is no reason for you or anyone else to think other wise. You are Dave Strider_. _You are Dave Strider prototyped with a crow into a sprite, but you are Dave Strider no less. _

Next to Dave Strider the sprite was Jade Harley, who was also part animal. Jade Harley was also once a sprite that people labelled oh so creatively as "Jadesprite." After all that shit that went down with Hephaestus to get the Royal Deringer, seeing Jadesprite at the Battlefield was probably the most comforting thing for him to see. He would never forget the way that she looked as she turned to him, sniffling as she squeaked his name, "Dave?" And he supposed that to her, he really was just Dave. He was the only one that she saw at least. It felt nice not to feel like such a metamorphosed freak around her.

He had thought, maybe selfishly, that this was good. That Jade prototyping this poor girl and creating this tragic heroine was some destiny that made it so he wouldn't have to be alone in this shitty game. There was a set of players and there was a set of sprites, and he could deal with that with her there. He could deal with being a pair with her. Happy, even.

Then Jade went god tier. Shoot him in the head if she wasn't the most magnificent creature in any world, but in that second he took to soak in how amazing she was, he felt condemned to be alone. Jade Harley the sprite, had became Jade Harley the god.

But even if Jadesprite had gone on, they were still different, weren't they? Jadesprite really was a ghost. He may have been doomed, but when he prototyped himself, Dave was very much alive. Even if he was a dead bird at one point, dead creatures don't heal and they definitely don't molt. Sure, he was kind of thankful that puberty didn't involve all those awkward things that had been described in the pamphlets handed out at school, but he didn't know exactly what to make of this whole deal. His entire entity was a disastrous mystery all on its own. John could make all the ghost butt comments he wanted, but Davesprite was never a ghost. Just one waiting to happen.

So that's where they were. Jade and he sat together against the wall of her room, quiet apart from her quiet sniffles every few seconds. It didn't always happen, but this time he was taken back to his meeting with Jadesprite. Glowing green eyes full of sadness that would look at him, hoping he could provide her with something to hold onto, something to ground her. But now she was the Witch of Space, and she could place herself wherever she needed to be.

"All those things you said..." she started slowly.

His mouth was a hard line. It tightened and returned back to its default. A gesture that let her know that he was processing her words while sorting through his own thoughts.

"They're... not true are they? They don't... have to be, right?"

He took a moment for his mind to settle a bit before explaining. "You don't remember being a sprite too much at all, do you? You remember some of dream Jade's memories vaguely, but you're also sharing a brain with an omnipotent dog god, so never mind." He sighed. "I don't know everything. Vast sprite knowledge gives me a lot of rules and regulations to go off of, but there are some things I just don't know and gotta figure out for myself. Once I do figure out stuff though, it's like... the sprite bells go a ringin'. 'Ding ding ding Strider you guessed that shit super good, here's a boonbuck. Scurry along.'

"So once that thought came to my head, the thought that I'm supposed to be the one getting myself into deep shit, it was like a rush of vindication to the brain. I'm the one being called and signaled to get my ghost ass kicked into gear. I'm the guy who does the shitty things that Alpha Dave isn't supposed to deal with, and that includes, but is not exclusive to-"

Jade shut him up with her mouth, one hand grabbing at his ruff. He knew she couldn't have kissed him long. Her nose was all dammed up from her crying. For once he felt that it may have been better this way, a short kiss, because the moment their lips met was like a sword had been stabbed right through him all over again. This time it was higher up though, running through his chest cavity. She released him to get air into her lungs.

"-dying," he finished out of breath. Jade collapsed against him, her arms around his neck while her forehead rested on his shoulder. She filled the space between them with whispered words and any tears that fell from her eyes.

"We knew that though, Jade. We knew that I was doomed, and that's always been a thing.

That's the whole point of being a time player. You go get to go here and there, and have all these branches of doomed timelines where shit hits the ceiling. It's like a maze. You hit a dead end and you're like, 'Oh well don't go that way dude.' I'm that other guy. I get the dead end. Literally." He kissed her cheek carefully, doing his damnedest to soften the blunt words. Again, his lips against her skin made his chest clench horribly. God maybe this was a shitty idea.

"Jade," he called, mind running with heavy thoughts.

She made a weak sound of acknowledgement.

Second thoughts. No. No, no, no. He couldn't. "Nothing."

She sniffed, tightening her grip on him. Davesprite felt her hurt hit him, mix with his, intertwine with his and form something incredibly and malevolently sad.

Third thoughts. It's the right thing to do. End it now and give her some time to get used to the idea of him being gone. He had to do it, the sooner the better.

He was about to open his mouth again when she moved. Her hands slid down and he found her arms wrapped around him. They were warm. They were everything that he needed them to be, and gave him almost everything he wanted to have.

Fourth thoughts.

His own arms encased her, held her back. His wings followed suit until he completely surrounded her, revolved around her like she was his center of gravity. She probably was.

Final thoughts.

"I fucking love you, Jade," he declared into their small space. "I love you," muttered into her shoulder. "I love you," lost in her hair. "I love you so much," pressed against her neck, flushed against her lips, confessed into her mouth over and over until they were breathless.

Whatever quips they may have had with living on the asteroid, any uncomfortable social situations, they got over it fast. Within twenty-four hours Skaia came into view. Jade once again took the initiative in hitting the breaks to land them all safely.

A sinking feeling hit Davesprite in the gut.

This was the new session. Sprite knowledge nudged him along, told him that this was correct, like a data synch to new software.

This was it. He was here.

**-x.x.x.x.-**

**I don't really know where to go from here plot wise? Well, I do but I have to flush my instincts of "Tie in with canon verbatim" down the toilet! This chapter made me really saaad. Listed to 'The Dumbing Down of Love' by Frou Frou made it **_**more**_** sad. Hopefully you like it though! Please review if you feel inclined, just cause it makes me happy and inspires me to update more quickly. Thank you so much! **


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